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The history of religion in the Southern Levant from the 15th to the 5th century BCE is attested by a rich variety of (extra-)biblical textual and visual sources. In this course, we will examine selected evidence from the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Persian period with regard to its significance for reconstructing the region’s religious history.
Our focus will be on the symbolic systems of these cultures, their material and textual expressions, and the question of both commonalities between Israelite religion and neighbouring traditions and possible distinctive features. We will explore where religion takes place (e.g., in the temple, in domestic cults, or at other venues), how it can be identified archaeologically, iconographically, and textually, and what hermeneutical perspectives these findings might open for contemporary theology and (inter)religious studies.
The thematic focus will be finalised at the beginning of the semester, taking into account the interests of the participants.
Core literature:
Keel, O., and C. Uehlinger. 2010. Göttinnen, Götter und Gottessymbole. Neue Erkenntnisse zur Religionsgeschichte Kanaans und Israels aufgrund bislang unerschlossener ikonographischer Quellen. 6th ed. Quaestiones disputantae 134. Freiburg i.Br. et al.: Herder. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-41088.
English translation of the first edition: Keel, O., and C. Uehlinger. 1998. Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Additional literature:
• Berlejung, A., in Gertz, J.C., A. Berlejung, K. Schmid, and M. Witte. 2009. Grundinformation Altes Testament: eine Einführung in Literatur, Religion und Geschichte des Alten Testaments. Ed. Jan Christian Gertz. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 59–192.
• Schmitt, R. 2020. Die Religionen Israels/Palästinas in der Eisenzeit: 12.–6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Ägypten und Altes Testament 94. Münster: Zaphon.
• Schmitt, R. 2023. Die Religionen Israels/Palästinas in der Bronzezeit, ca. 3800–1200 v. Chr. Ägypten und Altes Testament 119. Münster: Zaphon.
• Schroer, S. 2011. Die Ikonographie Palästinas/Israels und der Alte Orient: eine Religionsgeschichte in Bildern, Vol. 3: Die Spätbronzezeit. Fribourg: Academic Press.
• Schroer, S. 2018. Die Ikonographie Palästinas/Israels und der Alte Orient: eine Religionsgeschichte in Bildern, Vol. 4: Die Eisenzeit bis zum Beginn der achämenidischen Herrschaft. Basel: Schwabe Verlag.
• Zwickel, W., and M. Tilly. 2015. Religionsgeschichte Israels. München: Herder. |
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